Center for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, Moskou (Russia)

The origins and meaning of the Sed-festival became from
the very beginning the subject of the scholar's egyptology studies.

On the turn of the XXth century, under the influence of
the ideas expressed by Frazer in his "Golden bough", the concept of Heb-Sed
was understood as a survival of a custom from previous times. It would
have implied the ritual killing of the tribe ruler, as it was already
formulated a long time ago by W.M.F. Petrie. This scholar believed that
during the pharaonic period this "fierce custom" was transformed into
a ritual of rejuvenation, the renewal of the vital forces of the ruling
king. At present this concept is in a way an axiom among Egyptologists.

However, our own research concerning the Sed-festival allow
us to conclude that this "classical" scheme was not universal for all
periods of ancient Egyptian history. The Heb-Sed underwent very substantial
changes over the three thousand years of its existence. The meaning of
its rituals were changing parallel to the evolution of the Egyptian society
and state.

We believe that the Sed-festival appeared on the very outset
of the Dynastic history of Egypt, during the period of the gradual penetration
of the Naqada culture towards the North. Than the festival was celebrated
every time after the suppression of the Northern petty realms in order
to strengthen the king's victory over the enemies encroaching upon the
unity of Upper and Lower Egypt.

The analysis of the co-called "monuments of Unification"
and the monuments dated to the time of the kings Den and Khasekhem could
confirm our interpretation.

The problem which is directly linked to the theme presented
in the paper concerns the manner in which the unification of Egypt took
place. There are two main schemes of this process in the present day Egyptology:
"militaristic"
(W. Kaiser, T. von der Way, W. Helck, etc.)
"peaceful" (E.C. K÷hler, D. Wildung, etc.)

In our opinion the first scheme seems to be more confirmed
by the evidence and could be proved by historical parallels. Before the
advance of the Naqada culture, the Delta belonged to a cultural tradition
which was very different from that of Southern Egypt. The populations
of these regions which are very distant from each other and who most probably
also differed by their anthropological types, presumably could not understand
each other's languages. Under these conditions it seems very unlikely
that the local Úlite freely abdicated from its power and the control over
the trade routes coming from the Near East.